matoatoa’s BodyBlog

Its school break at the moment. Tonight we have two teenage boys sleeping over as well as our five year old and 14 year old hulk kid. The DVD player is on full tilt playing episodes of an animated series called Avatar. They just lie there all over the place taking up space. After cooking dinner I escaped to the gym. I did the mandatory chinups then moved onto the other back exercises. Afterwards I hit the treadmill for a 35 minute run. Its the end of the month so I will have to post an assessment of my efforts. As I write, the boys are still in the front room being boys and heckling each other. Its great…

I made time for my friend tonight. We went to hear a motivational speaker but ended up going to a movie cos the session was sold out. I got home late 11.00pm and almost went for a run…almost.

I only ran for 50 mins after yesterdays madness. Slow again as I am trying to move fat. It didn’t help that we went to a Mongolian BBQ restaurant earlier this evening. This was to celebrate the hulk kids homecoming from his karate trip to Japan. He lost weight while over there.

I also worked the shoulders side lateraling my 15kgs but getting the trembles through the forearms in the last set. One of the mothers at my sons school can do 17.5 kilos. I am jealous but also happy for her.

I wore my "Oregon" shirt to the gym tonight but there were no Americans who cared enough to comment so no story to tell. However, I did manage to eek out 80mins on the treadmill while I watched my team on the TV hit rock bottom and continue to dig. Initially, I struggled to run for some reason, but got to the stage where I increased the pace regularly, eventually running the last two kms in just over 10 mins. In May, I will return to the road.

I did my mandatory chinups tonight..the exercise I do twice a week in order to ame my goal of 12 straight. Still doing 10 in a row but should hit 12 any day now. Also did my curls with BB and DB then hit the mill for 50 mins. Felt good. The only reason I seem to manage it , is by timing my run along with important sporting fixtures which are broadcast on the TVs at the gym. Gets me through the boredom…while I was there a guy came up up and asked me if I was from Georgia as I was wearing a bright red University of Georgia tee shirt with a "G". I said "No sorry,  my wife picked it up for me while she was in Athens last week". He said he was from a rival college…I think he said Syracruse. This sound right to any of you US based people?

I had to crank out a quick 30 minute run tonight before the gym closed. I worked out chest with dips, incline flyes and fly machine. felt baaaaad about running the treadmill and not the road, but after the injury last month I want to avoid the pavement for a while. I had a wasted back and shoulders (DOMS) today at work…was walking around like a mummy without the bandages.

I worked out the shoulders tonight with side laterals 15 kgs (33lbs)and front raises the same. I can’t work out what I do for rear delts as I actually use a machine for them. It can’t be as much as the side and front even though it feels heavy. This is the next set of dumbells up from 12.5 kgs (27.5lbs) so it is a bit of a jump. I also managed a 50 minute run just for punishments sake. I asked for it with those 12 days of neglection. My run was a fast walk then slow jog and then steady on the treadmill building up in speed every five minutes or so.

12 days later I have finally started training again.  First up, the wife went to the States for a conference for a week so I was solo dad for the kids; the great grandmother who is 90 + went wandering at 7.00am in the morning (one morning) and was picked up by the cops; at work I had five days of being in a room with the same seven people from 9am to 5pm, then the evenings too. Overall, it was crazy and I only periodically checked into BB.com to scan the logs and forums I subscribe to. So tonight I worked the back with chin ups, rows etc and went for a 45 min slow run to gently sweep out the cobwebs. I thought working a big set of muscles like the back would get the metabolism going again. According to the scales I didn’t gain weight so that is good, but my training stats will be down again for April unless I put in the hard yards these next 10 days. I guess life is like that…

I ran for 35 minutes last night and did a hard workout at the gym. I boosted the weight on the side laterals up to 15kgs per dumbell. This was important. I keep reading about training hard…intensity. i think it is easy to let youtself get used to a weight instead of pushing it. 

I want to lose body fat but also develop an endurance base useful for tramping, running around after the kids and walking up stairs and hills where I live and work. This month was my third month of running. I ran or cardio’d 12 days out of the 31 days in March. My longest run was 80 mins. In the gym, I dropped a little weight on the dumbbell press so I could concentrate on good form and get three sets of dips in beforehand. After the dips it was harder to handle more weight. I am pleased the dips are progressing well. My chin ups are still a regular 9 -10 reps in the first set. I need to work them three times a week, I just manage two sessions at the moment. My short term goal is still 12 chin ups in a row with full arm extension.

Overall, I have had a small bodyweight increase. This is no surprise given my lack of cardio. I am regularly coming in under 218lbs (99kgs). I regularly get in my five small meals and watch the calories except Fridays and Saturdays. It is my lack of regular cardio that is hindering progress. 

Anyway, thanks for reading this. Thanks again to my wife and kids who support me going on my runs to nowhere and lifting stuff without getting paid for it 

March 1, 2008 

32 mins 

March 3 

40 mins 

March 6 

30mins 

Mar 9 -15th 

30 mins 

50 mins 

30 mins 

60 mins 

March 18th 

50 mins 

March 25th 

50 mins 

March 26th 

45 mins 

March 29th 

80 mins 

March 31st 

60 mins